Novlene Williams-Mills hopes a change in her training regime will produce better results at the London Olympic Games later this year, as she looks to keep up with a competitive 400m field.

Williams-Mills put in a strong performance at Saturday's Jamaica International Invitational meet, where she doggedly pursued American 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross before overtaking her 10m from the finish line.

Williams-Mills' winning time of 49.99 is the fastest over the distance so far this season. In addition to Williams-Mills and Richards-Ross, the quality field included Rosemarie Whyte and former World and Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain. Following her great form at the Penn Relays last week where she anchored the USA Red team to a record run in the USA vs The World 4x400 metres, Richards-Ross was the favourite to win.

"I feel good about my time as before the race I told myself that I would go for it. I felt very good coming into the race because I have trained hard and I am in great shape. I like to compete with athletes like Sanya because she pushes me to do my best," Williams-Mills said.

However, in addition to Richards-Ross and Ohuruogu, Williams-Mills will certainly have her work cut out at the summer Games, with World Champion Amantle Montsho and possibly American Allsyon Felix taking part in the event. The athlete, however, hopes an altered training schedule will help her keep pace with the field.

"I will continue to train hard because this year I have changed my programme a bit because my competitors are training hard and I have to do likewise."